Open Access Textbooks at Portland State

Updated January 26, 2017: Thank you to everyone who submitted a proposal for an open access textbook. The deadline for submissions now has passed.

With generous support from the Portland State University Alumni Association, the Portland State University Library is pleased to announce a new round of funding that will expand its open textbook initiative, PDXOpen. As a result, PSU faculty have financial support to create at least 5 new open textbooks. Ultimately, open textbooks reduce costs for students and enhance student learning.

PDXOpen textbooks have saved PSU students $85,094 as of Fall 2016. Since the program began in 2013, PSU faculty have published 10 open textbooks. Support from the PSU Alumni Association allows the Library to work with PSU faculty and provide a platform to make open textbooks accessible to students.

“This project allowed me to help in tailoring a book for the very specific needs of my PSU students of Arabic… without the hurdles of cost or lack of resources availability.”
– Lina Gomaa, Instructor of Arabic and PDXOpen author

Open textbooks already created through PDXOpen cover several Portland State disciplines, including University Studies, World Languages, Math, Education, Psychology, and Urban Studies. PSU faculty authors tailor these open textbooks to their students’ needs. In addition, the textbooks created through PDXOpen can be accessed beyond Portland State University, even after graduation. As a measure of success, PDXOpen textbooks have been downloaded over 10,000 times across the globe. The partnership between the PSU Alumni Association and the Library will continue to reduce costs and enhance learning for PSU students by expanding open textbooks for PSU students.